Blanching means cooking briefly in boiling water. In this recipe I blanched my green beans rapidly, then I sauté them in butter for extra crispiness and flavor.

I like blanching my vegetables; it is the best way to keep the natural flavor intact. The way you serve your vegetables is up to you; you can serve them cold or warm, seasoned or unseasoned.

INGREDIENTS:

½ pound fresh green beans trimmed

Salt/fresh-ground pepper

Butter/olive oil

Chopped parsley (optional)

Fried Shallots

STEPS:

Heat a large pot of water to boiling and salt it generously as well as have a large bowl of ice water ready to go (this later will help keeping the green color and stop the cooking process).

Cook the green beans for 2 minutes (make sure they are still crunchy) and lift them with a strainer and immediately plunge them into the ice water.

Heat butter in a large pan over medium high heat and start sautéing the green beans about 2 minutes season with salt and pepper and add freshly chopped parsley.

Serve with crispy shallots on top.